Garmin Auto Pilot-Searching for sensor

[jcarrdive]

Hi, My garmin Autopilot is on the fritz. It says searching for steering sensor. I have checked all the connections and they all seem to be in order, and the unit has power to all segments. Any ideas? I can get it to come up, it even (sometimes) has the compass screen come up (although the compas on the screen does not move with the turning of the boat) but it will not let me engage.
Any ideas are appreciated!
jeff

 

[coreychamness]

I get that every once in awhile but it goes away after I have shutdown. Since I seldom use the autopilot I have never investigated the cause. I presume yours is stuck that way?

 

[knotflying]

Make sure your cables are in and tight at the back of the autopilot unit. One of my connector nuts is stripped and the cable gets dislodged sometimes and I get that search message. For that matter check all the connections associated with the autopilot. it could be any of them.

 

[HRowland]

Check the connections on the CCU (Course Computer Unit) which provides heading information and is the brain of the autopilot. This is a round unit and has a couple of connections, one for the ECU that drives the pump and one for the NMEA 2000 network. The NMEA connection allows it to communicate with the display at your helm.
On my R27 the CCU is located in the cave.

Note, do not move/rotate the CCU. If you do you will need to re-calibrate its compass.

Howard

 

[Gin]

What year is your unit? Our autopilot, installed spring of 2013, had similar symptoms and had to be replaced by Garmin. But my understanding is that the issue on our CCU was caused by a unique production issue specific to a particular run of them.

Gini

 

[jcarrdive]

What year is your unit? Our autopilot, installed spring of 2013, had similar symptoms and had to be replaced by Garmin. But my understanding is that the issue on our CCU was caused by a unique production issue specific to a particular run of them.

Gini

Ours is a 2011.